For Dr. Robert L. Beckmann, there is no secret
formula to being a good teacher: You just have to take
it one student at a time, he says.

During his 22-year career with the College
of Agriculture and Life Sciences, that approach has earned him
a reputation as one of the best professors in North Carolina.

In April, he received his fourth teaching
award, an Award of Excellence in Teaching from the University
of North Carolina. The award, which carries a $7,500 prize, is
bestowed upon one educator from each UNC campus. Beckmann is
an associate professor of botany and biological sciences.

It has been a decade since a mysterious
marine microbe was found in fish cultures at N.C. State University
 10 years since Dr. JoAnn M. Burkholder and her associates
began their breakthrough studies on a dinoflagellate now seen
as one of the most menacing threats to the states fisheries.

The ramifications of their work continue to be felt in Mid-Atlantic
states where Pfiesteria
piscicida has been found. Recognizing the significance
of the research, several organizations have presented Burkholder
with prestigious awards. In just the first few months of 1998,
the associate professor of aquatic botany and marine sciences
won the Conservationist of the Year award from the Chesapeake
Bay Foundation, the Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award
from the worlds largest federation of scientists, the American
Association for the Advancement of Science; and the Conservation
Achievement Award from the National Wildlife Federation.

Burkholder is largely credited with identifying
Pfiesteria and documenting a strange 24-stage life cycle
in which the one-celled microbe changes from a harmless organism
into a toxic predator that poisons fish and then eats their flesh.

She holds that, in all likelihood, Pfiesteria
has been in the Mid-Atlantic region for thousands of years as
a non-toxic predator but that human influences  particularly
the discharge of sewage from cities and towns and nutrients from
agricultural operations into shallow, poorly flushed waters 
have slowly changed the environment in ways that encourage the
organisms fish-killing activity.

Her research has implicated pfiesterias toxins
in massive fish kills and mysterious human ailments. North Carolinas
Pamlico Sound and rivers emptying into the lower Chesapeake Bay
are among the areas that have been affected.

To further efforts to understand Pfiesteria
and similar organisms, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
opened a 3,400-square-foot aquatic
botany laboratory this summer.

An honor reserved for the person deemed to have made the most
significant contribution to American agriculture during the previous
five years has been awarded to one of N.C. State Universitys
foremost scientists, Dr. R. Wayne Skaggs.

Skaggs  a Williams Neal Reynolds
Professor and Distinguished University Professor of biological
and agricultural engineering  was the 23rd recipient
of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Award.

Skaggs was honored in late 1997 for his
efforts to find ways that farmers can better manage their use
of water while protecting the environment. He and his graduate
students are credited with developing a computer simulation model
used around the world for designing and improving subsurface
drainage systems for agricultural lands.

Themodel quantifies the effects of drainage
and water-table management systems on crop yields as well as
pollutant losses from agricultural fields. Thus, it is now possible
to address both agricultural production and environmental goals.

The models also have been applied to describe
the hydrology of wetlands. His contributions in this area were
highlighted in a recently published National Research Council
report on wetlands. The ability to describe the hydrology of
wetlands makes it possible to better identify and protect these
fragile and ecologically important areas.

Such efforts have earned Skaggs a reputation
as a leading expert on soil drainage, water-table management
and wetland hydrology. He has received N.C. States highest
award, the Alexander Quarles Holladay Medal for Excellence, and
the University of North Carolinas highest honor, the O.
Max Gardner Award.

The von Humboldt award was especially gratifying
for Skaggs because it provided a means for enabling a younger
scientist to further her studies and, thus, to carry on his and
the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences efforts to
improve agricultural yields while protecting environmental quality.
As winner, Skaggs was invited to select a student to receive
a $5,000 Alfred Toepfer Scholarship. As a result, Patricia Haan
spent six weeks in Germany and six weeks in Italy conducting
water-quality research as part of her doctoral studies in biological
and agricultural engineering.